The commission of investigation into complaints against serial Waterford sex abuser Bill Kenneally found no evidence of the Kenneally political dynasty interfering with the 1980s Garda investigation. However, it was critical of former TD Brendan Kenneally for failing to later make agencies aware of his cousin’s sexual offending.Judge Michael White noted in his report that Bill Kenneally’s uncle Billy Kenneally snr, his cousin Brendan Kenneally, who both served as TDs for Waterford, as well as the Kenneally family generally and Bill Kenneally’s uncle Msgr John Shine, were “influential in Waterford society”.Aside from its political influence, the family was also commercially successful, running a private bus service in Waterford and operating several pubs in a partnership, P&W Kenneally, run by Billy Kenneally snr and his brother Paddy, Bill Kenneally’s father, now both deceased.Billy Kenneally snr was contacted by then acting chief supt Sean Cashman in late 1987 after the father of a 14-year-old boy contacted the Garda officer to say that Bill Kenneally had sexually abused his son. However, the man did not want to make a statement as he did not want his son involved in an investigation.Billy Kenneally snr then made arrangements for his nephew to call to see Cashman and acting supt PJ Hayes at Waterford Garda station on December 31st, 1987, when they warned him about his behaviour and suggested he be referred to see a psychiatrist, Dr Michael Kelleher.White said there was “no evidence available to the commission to suggest Billy Kenneally snr interfered in the Garda investigation – it was acting chief supt Cashman who rang him, subsequent to meeting the father of the boy and who made the suggestion about psychiatric intervention”.The judge also noted Billy Kenneally snr did not take any steps to tell his brother Paddy about his son’s offending even though it was happening in the family home. He also failed to notify the Fianna Fáil executive, and Bill Kenneally was allowed to continue canvassing for his cousin Brendan.Brendan Kenneally, who testified before the commission on September 20th and October 18th, 2023, told the hearing he first learned about his cousin’s abuse – carried out in 1987 and 1988 – when his father, Billy Kenneally snr, told him about it in 2001.However, a witness, Simon O’Toole, alleged “that Brendan Kenneally’s knowledge of and collusion with the sexual abuse can be inferred from words spoken by him and his demeanour where they stayed in Cork in 1981 to attend a prominent basketball tournament”.But the commission noted Bill Kenneally testified that Brendan Kenneally had offered to have him co-opted to Waterford City Council to replace him when he became a minister of state in 1992, with the promise he would become mayor of Waterford.“If Brendan Kenneally had knowledge in 1992 that Bill Kenneally was a sexual abuser, it would have been unlikely that he would take the risk of co-opting him to such a prominent role,” said White. The commission could not establish definitely on the balance of probabilities if Brendan Kenneally knew about Bill Kenneally’s sexual abuse of boys before 2001, the judge said. However, the commission was critical of Brendan Kenneally for failing to act on the information about his cousin after 2001, particularly after the partner of a man Bill Kenneally had abused as a boy had requested him to take effective action on child protection.While the commission accepted the families of this now-adult man and another now-adult victim did not want the matter reported to the Garda, Brendan Kenneally could have reported the matter to the child protection services of the South Eastern Health Board and asked them to carry out a risk assessment on his cousin.“He should have spoken to Bill Kenneally” and advised him to resign from the local basketball club he was involved in, said the judge. “He should have never allowed him to continue to canvass and act as a tallyman for him or the Fianna Fáil party.”[ Bill Kenneally continued to canvass for TD cousin after he was told about abuse claimsOpens in new window ]The judge found Bill Kenneally’s uncle John Shine knew in late 1987 or early 1988 that his nephew had abused at least one if not two boys and he learned from Brendan Kenneally in August or September 2001 that Bill Kenneally had continued to abuse boys even after the psychiatric intervention.However, there is no evidence Shine interfered in the Garda investigation even though he was friendly with acting supt Hayes, and any involvement he had was in his personal capacity as Bill Kenneally’s uncle and not in any official capacity on behalf of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.“Despite the strong denial of Brendan Kenneally in evidence, the one constant in the actions of all three, Billy Kenneally snr, Msgr Shine and Brendan Kenneally, was a failure to bring the matter into the public domain at least to the extent of reporting the matter to the statutory agencies responsible for child protection,” the judge said.